Livet Hemma

Translating into English as Life at Home, Ikea's new blog is a breath of fresh air from the Swedish giant. The blog features Ikea furniture but in a brand new light. The photographs of room sets are very 'lived-in' and don't feel as staged as the traditional room sets. There are also some bits and pieces that you can't get in your local Ikea, aiding that 'non-staged' effect. Personally I think the blog is a huge success. There are some really inspiring photographs, some great decorating tips from the staff and a marketplace where you can buy and sell second hand Ikea furniture. Eco friendly too, welldone Ikea!

Livet Hemma also provides tips on customising your Ikea furniture to make it more personal, something which I think has been needed for a while at Ikea. With the products being so accessible to everyone it is important that your furniture still says something about you, and customisation (stencilling, repainting, changing handles etc) is the perfect way to do this. Here are some ideas from Ikea.

In these images Ikea have transformed their PRÄNT storage boxes by painting them in lovely spring colours, then simply fastening them together with bulldog clips. The result is an edgy and fun storage unit.

Below, a selection of Ikea's plain white porcelain has been painted and displayed together to form a feature wall. This one looks lots of fun to do as well!

From this...to this!

This one below is my favourite. It's so simple too. They've started with a plain GÖRAN table, and simply painted on the words 'WORK IN PROGRESS' on the top. So fitting for an office table don't you think? The lovely Livet Hemma provide a step-by-step guide to making this here if you're new to the customisation lark!

These are just a small selection of Livet Hemma's decorating ideas, there's loads more to try if you're a creative type.
Another resource to try if this has inspired you is deign blog Ikea Hackers, a blog which does exactly what is says on the tin. Loads and loads of ideas on here on how to customise your stuff!

{Images: Livet Hemma}

Habitat Spring/Summer 2011 Collection

These gorgeous sun-drenched images are from high street favourite Habitat. Don't they just make you think of afternoon tea parties in the sunshine?

I'm dreaming of long, lazy afternoons in the park, tea, cake, and maybe something fizzy! You can buy most of what you see above in your local Habitat now. My favourite buys for this summer are the PARC folding table in pink (in the first image) and the CONCETTA crockery, pictured with our spiky friend. 

Habitat have also collaborated with designer Ella Doran to create a collection of pretty home and kitchenware. Ella says that her collection, JOANIE, was  'Inspired by my burgeoning collection of tea plates both from family heirlooms and charity shops, I wanted to create a collection that is playful and creative, and one that I hope inspires lots of tea parties and home baking!'. From the look of it, I think it will.

Above: JOANIE dessert plate, £6; mug, £7; melamine tray, £12; Love cushion, £25; napkin, £5; apron, £15; square cushion, £26.

{Images: Habitat}

Etsy Find: Jimbob Art

Another day, another Etsy find! After a lazy morning spent eating Mars bar cake (I'll give you the recipe sometime!) and browsing the internet, I uncovered these little creations from Jimbob Art.

How cute are they?
Jimbob, aka James Ward, is an illustrator who primarily works in pen and ink and creates large-scale artwork as well as these cute ceramic plates. He often uses stereotypes of the animals he depicts but also wants to make them quirky, the end result being, I think anyway, damn right hilarious! Do I want to own a plate with a bear in a bandit mask exclaiming to defend my sandwich? Hell yeah! Though it's too good to eat off so I'll put it on my wall.
Here's just a sneak peek at some of his ceramic collection.

As I mentioned earlier Jimbob also creates original printed artwork, often in limited numbers, so take look and act fast if you like what you see.

Lovely eh? And finally something for mum?

{Images: Jimbob Art}

Etsy Find: Cassia Beck

One thing I wanted to do when I started this blog was to provide a little bit of inspiration, no matter how big or small, on homewares and interior decoration. Maybe to uncover something you wouldn't normally have found or to show you something in a different light. Hopefully this is something I have achieved with today's post. When browsing the handmade on-line store Etsy, I stumbled across Cassia Beck's photography and I just had to share my findings with you. Cassia's colour-saturated lomography really stood out to me- the blurred edges, subtle scratches and often random subjects are really romantic, and provoke a feeling of nostalgia. Just look at her beautiful prints.

I think these would look great in a kitchen, maybe two or three together.
If the green tones in the lomography are a bit too heavy and you're looking for something softer, try her sister shop Lola's Room for some toned-down girly prints.

Yellow telephones, typewriters accessorized with butterflies and ditzy flower-print wallpaper, bliss! These are perfect for a girls room don't you think? Or maybe framed in some chunky white frames in a bedroom? Either way, I'm fitting them in somewhere! There's so many more prints on her Etsy shop so take half an hour and have a browse. I hope I've inspired at least some of you today!

ON LOCATION: Ideal Home Show 2011, Earls Court

Having not been to one before, I didn't know quite what to expect from the annual Ideal Home Show at Earls Court, London. Adding to this, I had also heard of some 'Ken Barlow chic' going on- what was I going to? However, after overcoming the crowds and old women constantly clipping my heels with their bulging shopping trolley's, I must say I was quite impressed. Split into sections, including Ideal Interiors, Ideal Food, Ideal Woman (complete with catwalk might I add), Ideal Shopping and various others, there was plenty to keep me entertained for a full day.

Prince Charles even stopped by. Image Credit: Ideal Home Show.

Being too excited to do anything else, I headed straight to the Ideal Interiors section and made my way to the room sets. There were some lovely decorating ideas here, my favourite being the girls room set (pictured below) which had walls washed in pale grey and a papered feature wall in Rosabella by Wallpaper Direct. Inside there was a lovely candy striped duvet from BHS, simple white furniture which complemented the pale walls perfectly, and polka dot roller blind. The finishing touches made it a perfect kids room: the 'tree' coat stand covered in fairy lights, the funky leather rocking chair and bold botanical print rug.

Girls room set at the Ideal Home Show

Leather rocker chair available at Dwell

As well as the girls room there were room sets of a kitchen, living room (tribal-inspired), bedroom (boutique-inspired), and bathroom. All of which gave me some great ideas for my flat. Here's a few pics, though I'm afraid my photography 'skills' don't do them much justice.

After I'd ogled the room sets, I queued up to see inside the Open Plan Living House, built by Scandinavian builders Jorntrahus who combine eco-efficiency with comfort and practicality. The house itself looked great, if a little bit cabin-esque. Inside was decorated brightly, showing off sponsor Dulux's new colour range. The rooms were smart, full of clean lines and typically Scandinavian. Below is the open plan living room.

Image Credit: Ideal Home Show

Next up was No. 1 Coronation Street. Yep that's right. I actually went to Ken and Deirdre's house.

Look familiar? The replica of the famous house was good fun, but the real reason for the soap set was that next door architect George Clarke had renovated the exact same living space to show you how to decorate a small space in an eco-friendly way. Even though these houses were exactly the same size, the interiors looked incredibly different. Below is Ken Barlow's kitchen the George Clarke way.

White storage units available at B&Q

After all this excitement I was due a snack break. Luckily there was a floating restaurant nearby. Phew. 
After lunch I had a leisurely stroll through the stalls to see what was on offer. I must say there were some great stands at the exhibition and I found some independent companies I'd not heard of before. For me, the pick of the bunch was Black Bird Creators who are based in West Ealing. Black Bird Creators design and build unique 'art furniture' which is made through a collaboration of different artists over a period of time. This means that every piece of furniture is incredibly different to the next and is of an extremely high quality. Their aim is to 'reinvent one's view of what furniture may convey', and I think they succeed.

Black Bird Creators stall at the Ideal Home Show

Colourful ethnic textiles at Black Bird Creators

Image Credit: Black Bird Creators

Image Credit: Black Bird Creators

Right, well I've rambled on for long enough now, if you like what you've seen get yourself down to Earls Court before it finishes on Sunday. Or check out their website for all the news, pictures and exhibitors.

{Images: Laura Blanksby, except where stated}

Mothers' Day

Eeek! Mothers' day is just around the corner, how did that happen? If you haven't got time to hit the shops before Sunday 3rd April, read on as I've done all the hard work for you! Here are some gift ideas that hopefully she'll love.

Trusty Emma Bridgewater have some lovely mugs on offer.

Elsewhere, here's my pick of the best gifts available on the high street and on-line. Ranging from cute, low-cost tote bags to luxury scented candles.

You can find the lovely lettered bags here, along with the rest of their collection. Keep an eye out for their vintage-style clasp purses too. Try your Smythson store for the latest diaries and notepads or at their website here. Cath Kidston's Stitch! can be found on her website, or at Amazon. The Diptyque candles (which smell divine by the way, you'll have to try one to see what I mean!) can be found here. And finally the pretty Orla Kiely cushions are available on their website here- take a quick look if you have a spare few minutes as they've got some new kitchenware which is fantastic.

If you're still stumped for ideas (or have missed the last postage date!), why not bake a cake? Cath Kidston have some lovely cake tins you could put it in too. Happy shopping guys!

Indie Furniture

Last week was a sad week. It was the week that my trusty Ikea LERBERG shelves finally gave up on me. Therefore it was with deep regret, and a guilty excitement, that I started looking for new ones. And look what I found- Indie Furniture!

Indie Furniture are a Swiss company who manufacture shelving clamps which you use to build your own bespoke storage solution. The idea is that you 'design' the size of shelf you want via their 'configurator' on their website, buy the joining clamps, then visit a local joiner/carpenter/scrapyard for the materials you want and voilà- your very own personal shelf! The man behind the company, designer Nicola Enrico Stäubli, professes that this is an environmentally friendly way to build and design furniture, as well as providing local craftsmen business- a great idea that I fully support. But are they pretty I hear you ask? Well take a look...

That's a 'yes' then.

The great thing about this company is that the end look of the storage unit is completely up to you. You can choose which materials you want it to be made of (though they do strongly recommend wood), which colour you'd like it to be and the size of it. You can also alter it if your tastes change over time. The overall look and feel of the product is quite industrial (remember my trends for the season post?) which is fantastic, but that can dramatically be altered through colour and material, see the salmon pink one above.

An innovative, eco-friendly company focused on local craftsmanship...hats off to you Indie Furniture.

{Images: Indie Furniture}

ON TREND: Birds

Birds, a key trend for Spring, are everywhere at the minute. There are birds in the kitchen at Anthropologie...

Tea towels and plates from a selection at Anthropologie

Birds on your walls and on your curtains at Laura Ashley...

Above left: Nightingale wallpaper. Above right: Summer Palace curtains, both Laura Ashley

And birds in your office at Cox & Cox and notonthehighstreet

Top left: Pink paperweight. Top right: Blackbird gift tags. Above left: Stamped tags, all notonthehighstreet. Above right: Rubber stamps set, Cox & Cox

Pheww, so many birds!

Flowers, trees and butterflies, and generally all things flora and fauna, are also set to be big this season so keep your eyes peeled for key pieces. All we need now is a bit of sunshine and we're all set!